


Glinting

by charcoalscenes



Series: Backdated Publications [9]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal
Genre: Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Fluff and Humor, M/M, Meet-Cute, Originally Posted on Tumblr
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-17
Updated: 2013-08-17
Packaged: 2021-03-12 16:15:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29637270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/charcoalscenes/pseuds/charcoalscenes
Summary: Shark, an esteemed local hunter in his merfolk community, has the (dis)pleasure of meeting a local researcher whose methods are less than impressive.(Posted to AO3 on February 2021 with a Backdated Publication date from when it posted to Tumblr.)
Relationships: Kamishiro Ryouga/Tsukumo Yuuma
Series: Backdated Publications [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2170983
Kudos: 2





	Glinting

**Author's Note:**

> Actual publication into AO3 is on February 2021. This is an old piece I shared on Tumblr and wanted to post using this site's Backdate feature. More older fics will likely be added onto the Backdated Publications series, so for anyone interested in this piece or in checking out the others, enjoy!

Shark the merman means no harm. Yes, he seems to have a scowl permanently etched onto his perfect, model face. No, he is not the friendliest little fish in the ocean. He also carries with him a giant spear. He is growing to be one of mer-society’s most cunning hunters. Shark the merman can be a little intimidating.

But, at the end of the day, he’s actually a decent person to be around, and he can go through most of these days without punching someone, stealing their fish out of spite, or being overly snarky. He is so decent a person, in fact, that when he catches sight of one of those really ugly humans somehow stupidly trapped in an underwater cage, Shark swims closer with the goal of rescuing them. He knows humans still aren’t really used to seeing his kind, so when the kid’s eyes go wide, Shark thinks it’s out of surprise.

He gets really upset and wishes humans were actually a part of his diet when the boy surfaces, and the first thing Shark hears him say is, “A mermaid tried to stab me!”

It will be all over the human news and the merfolk gossip if Shark lets this go, if he swims away and lets the boy share his really skewed story with the rest of the human world. There will be investigations, a clichéd war, and there will be memes. “We’re gonna need a bigger boat” will probably be graffitied all over the nearest beaches from Shark’s home. The words will be sent by papers trapped in floating glass bottles into the sea. More merfolk will grow to understand the reference. Rio will throw Shark out of their home because he would transform into a creature that snarks and only knows snark should any of this become a reality.

So, Shark swims up, surfaces as well, props himself on the top bars of the cage and leans forward, showing off his sharp teeth at the human and his ugly human comrades, and clears his case with, “I was trying to save you, you moron.”

The boy’s terrified face immediately regains its color. He and the pair with him stare at Shark in confusion. “You were in a cage,” Shark grunts, tapping a metal bar with his long, intimidating spear. “You human freaks are always trying to kill each other in creative ways. I thought you needed rescuing.”

“Ah,” the human replies. 

He smiles, then, and his teeth aren’t sharp like Shark’s are, but something about how his smile just unintentionally shines in another way entirely – unnerves Shark. In a sudden movement, the boy leaps forward and reaches out. “Hey, thanks, man! That was really nice of you! My name’s Yuma!”

“I don’t care.” Yuma’s smile collapses at the deadpan and at the sight of the weird wrinkly face Shark makes when he’s grumpy. “I’m gonna go now, alright? Don’t spread any rumors about me trying to stab you.” He dives, then, ignoring the cries of, “W-Wait!” and “You missed the chance of a lifetime, Yuma!”

Rio asks how his day went when he finally comes home. “Stupid,” he replies. She hums, content that her brother always brightens her days, like sunshine.

In fact, Shark thinks that the incident was so stupid that he decides not to venture back to the area where he came across Yuma for the rest of the month. Despite this, Ukyo calls out to him only the next day as Shark is racing after a particularly delicious looking fish. Ukyo isn’t really old, but he might as well be, and Shark is so decent that he chooses to let the fish go. He stops so that Ukyo, by now heaving, can keep up with him.

“Fuck,” Shark says.

“Ah,” Ukyo pants, waving off Shark’s temper. “Shark, did you know someone’s looking for you? A human has been screaming since early this morning from the surface, and people are saying he’s asking for you.”

Shark didn’t know. He still doesn’t want to know. “How can they tell it’s me he’s looking for?”

“Huh. Well, actually, Takashi’s saying that the boy described you as the pretty mermaid with flowing purple hair, and he thought the boy meant for Rio until something about a sharkfin and a giant stick came up.”

“This is a secret,” Shark demands right away. A strong sense of dread courses through him when Ukyo just laughs.

“No. No secret, not anymore. Like I said, Yuma has been screaming since this morning. Everyone knows.”

–to the point where Yuma has even introduced himself to others already. When Shark does see Yuma again (after swimming from Ukyo and all other company and spiting the dumb two-legged ape who had decided not to leave him alone) Yuma is still smiling, wide. Maybe Shark is paying too much attention to it, because it’s not like Yuma is showing all his teeth the way some predators might, and as one of Shark’s kind might when trying to look threatening, but something about the smile is almost too bright.

“This isn’t exactly common, still. You know that, right?” Shark challenges from where he props himself on the side of Yuma’s boat. “The whole human-merman thing. There’s still rumored to be some kind of taboo with us getting too involved.”

“What’s the worst that could happen,” is Yuma’s answer, because of course a human who’s willing to cage himself in a place where he can’t even breathe doesn’t know the history of interactions between their kinds.

“A lot,” Shark almost wants to say. “A lot can happen. War, or something.” Except Yuma turns away from him, rummaging through a long bag, and Shark didn’t come here to give a lecture. He came to shoo Yuma away so that the other kids in merfolk land won’t get into the habit of describing Shark as “the beautiful boy with  _ long, flowing, pretty hair – smooch smooch _ .”

“Kotori and the others couldn’t make it today, but we got you something cool, I swear!” Yuma cheers. He unwraps the paper and stuffing covering the spear he took out of the bag and displays it to Shark. “We noticed yours was a little…old-looking? So, we got you a new one. It has a giant tooth and everything!”

“It’s really ugly,” Shark says. Yuma’s face does the sad-thing again in response to Shark’s face doing the unimpressed-thing. “I mean, where did you get it? You traded for it, right? I bet it’s from some runt called Tokonosuke, right? Looks as flimsy as a pair of legs.”

“Hey…” Yuma tries to chide, but fails because his mood has died a quiet but sudden death. He balances the spear in his hands, frowning over it. “It looks pretty okay to me.”

“Listen. Yuma,” Shark begins, glaring at Yuma in an attempt to look past the dumb dejection on his face. “Don’t look for me anymore.” Yuma’s emotional expressiveness seems to be getting murdered multiple times today. His jaw slacks, which Shark winces at, but he goes on anyway because it’s not like he  _ slapped _ him or anything. “I don’t do the whole human-interaction thing. I don’t even do interaction. Don’t talk about me to anyone either. My hair doesn’t flow.”

“But maybe you should!” Yuma counters, again throwing himself forward to crouch closer to Shark. He goes on his knees to be nearer and says, “What you tried to do yesterday freaked me out but it was good! I mean, you did a really good thing yesterday. A lot of humans are just scared of mermaids because we don’t know a lot about you, but you’re nice! See, you’re like, The Little Mermaid – saving people.”

“Don’t.” Shark closes his eyes and breathes. “Don’t compare.”

“Yeah,” Yuma encourages. “Yeah, I shouldn’t. You’re prettier.”

Shark lets himself fall back into the water and rubs his face because he cannot take this shit. He is trying to be patient, and it was the sun– yeah, it was the sun that made him hot all of a sudden. It was making him warm. Yuma’s try at a compliment just took him by surprise, is all. But no one has ever called him pretty because everyone has always been too distracted by him being badass and frightening to appreciate his good looks.

“No.” He says when he resurfaces again. “Don’t talk about me. Don’t look for me. We’re not getting involved, alright? You want to float in a cage for a hobby? Okay. You want to tell the world mermen are friendly? Okay. Bye.”

“I got you a necklace too!” Yuma screeches, holding his hand out for Shark to stay as he turns and shuffles through his bag again. “From the human world! I made it myself, a long time ago – but I never really wear it, so I might as well give it to someone who it’ll look good on, right?”

Shark groans softly, peering around the boat and behind him to see if anyone was eavesdropping. “He’s giving you  _ j e w e l r y _ ,” Rio would croon if she saw, all sly smiles and lidded eyes. Because that would just make her day, wouldn’t it; the potential of her brother getting sucked into a scandalous affair with some reckless monkey.

“Look!” Yuma practically throws himself on the edge of the boat to shove the necklace into Shark’s hands. Shark almost loses his grip on his spear to keep hold of Yuma’s thing. “Nice seashell, huh? I found it. I thought it looked cool. Like you!” That smile again, engaging and begging Shark to say something and appreciate it even though he hadn’t even given Shark a chance to look at it yet.

Shark opens his hands to a gray shell the length of his middle finger, a slender, almost triangle-shaped thing with a blunted tip - probably hand-carved like that so that it wouldn’t hurt to wear it. Shark wishes Yuma hadn’t, though. He likes sharp things. Still, he hums, his gaze focusing back on Yuma’s expectant, frozen grin.

“It’s alright,” he drawls. Yuma’s bright mood is resurrected with a vengeance, so, naturally, Shark scoffs. “It’ll do as a thank-you gift. You’re welcome.” He throws the twine around his neck. “Now, remember what I said. Don’t look for me.”

“I’m not even looking  _ at _ you,” Yuma nods, looking at him. “Totally.”

Shark heaving out a really drawn-out sigh is the last thing he contributes to the conversation because Yuma looks like the kind of punk who would break the promise of a goodbye – and that’s really why, Shark tells himself, the first thing he does the next day, and the next, is go to the same spot and meet Yuma again, who is found eagerly waiting for him every time despite their agreement.


End file.
